DIY Advent Calendar

I really want an Advent Calendar for the girls.  I remember getting the cardboard calendar with the picture of the nativity on the front. Every day, I would pop open the appropriate door and fish out my little piece of chocolate.  Such a simple little activity, but it brought so much joy and just further fueled the anticipation of Christmas.

This is going to be Morgan's 5th Christmas and I have yet to set up an Advent Calendar in the house.  Since they get their fair share of sugary snacks as it is, I've been leaning towards the kind of calendar that has pockets or little doors where I can slip small trinkets into or behind (yes, I ended on a preposition).

Once I'd made up my mind to make this the year of the Advent Calendar, I saw them everywhere.  Purchasing them became another story.

At first, I wanted the one from Pottery Barn Kids and would have been happy to take either the house or the hanging Christmas tree. I guess I was so busy researching Black Santa, I missed my chance because they were all sold out. 

image

image

A friend of mine suggested I check out Etsy.com because they always have really cool stuff.  I had heard quite a bit about Etsy, but hadn't really sifted through it the way I should.  Ohhh, they have such wonderful stuff!  I really like this one:

image

Still, I didn't order it. I kept putting it off and getting distracted with the myriad of other things I have going on in preparation for the holidays.  

Then, at 5:44 am, this morning, I got a phone call.  Schools are closed due to inclement weather. 

[insert your own expletive of your choosing here]

I was caught totally unprepared with no activities for us to do.  Before the wintry mix started falling, I phoned in an emergency playdate with a friend who was more than happy to come on by. Unfortunately, by the time she got here, the snow started coming down.  The girls had a good 15 minutes to hang out before their friend had to be bundled up and driven home.  I looked at the clock -- 10:23.  It was going to be a long day.  

I wracked my brain for things the girls could do.  They played with their dolls, with their Doodle Pad, with their bead set.  It was only 10:45. We "wrapped" presents. Morgan chose an empty shoebox; Coever, an old coloring book.  I made them paper chain dolls to color.  Then, inspiration struck. 

We were going to make an Advent Calendar.  The first step was whether or not to do a cross off calendar or a stick on calendar.  The allure of using a tape runner or glue dots every day won out.  Coever's teacher had been free-handing a picture of Santa the other day and I remembered the basic strokes to duplicate it on some butcher paper.    We cut out circles and Morgan numbered them with some help from me.  Coever handed me my tape runner and we started filling in Santa's beard up through today's date.  When we were done, we taped it to the back of the front door and voila!  Advent Calendar!  As much as I loathe arts & craps, in the end I always get some great art and happy girls.